Scrappy Little Nobody

Anna Kendrick

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Description

The New York Times bestselling collection of humorous autobiographical essays by the Academy Award­–nominated actress and star of Up in the Air and Pitch Perfect.

Even before she made a name for herself on the silver screen starring in films like PitchPerfect, Up in the Air, Twilight, and Into theWoods, Anna Kendrick was unusually small, weird, and “10 percent defiant.”

At the ripe age of thirteen, she had already resolved to “keep the crazy inside my head where it belonged. Forever. But here’s the thing about crazy: It. Wants. Out.” In Scrappy Little Nobody, she invites readers inside her brain, sharing extraordinary and charmingly ordinary stories with candor and winningly wry observations.

With her razor-sharp wit, Anna recounts the absurdities she’s experienced on her way to and from the heart of pop culture as only she can—from her unusual path to the performing arts (Vanilla Ice and baggy neon pants may have played a role) to her double life as a middle-school student who also starred on Broadway to her initial “dating experiments” (including only liking boys who didn’t like her back) to reviewing a binder full of butt doubles to her struggle to live like an adult woman instead of a perpetual “man-child.”

Enter Anna’s world and follow her rise from “scrappy little nobody” to somebody who dazzles on the stage, the screen, and now the page—with an electric, singular voice, at once familiar and surprising, sharp and sweet, funny and serious (well, not that serious).

From Publishers Weekly

Oct 31, 2016 – In this snarky collection of personal essays, actress Kendrick recounts her early years as a theater-loving kid from Portland, Maine, who became a Hollywood "It Girl." Since Kendrick is only 31, much of her reminiscing is concentrated on her not-so-distant childhood, beginning with her first role, at age six, in a community production of Annie. Unlike many child stars, Kendrick had a fairly normal childhood: she went to school, where she was the uncool kid (few people at home were impressed when she tried bragging about going to Sundance Film Festival). She details her desire to be in a period piece and how she got her wish with 2014's In the Woods, telling an amusingly self-deprecating anecdote about costumes. Style is a theme, but not in the usual way of so many Hollywood memoirs. Most adult actors don't detail how they could shop at the kids' section of stores like L.L. Bean (let alone be caught dead at L.L. Bean) or admit that they don't adore fashion, but in many ways Kendrick is a refreshing outlier. When she gives advice, such as how not to make eye contact with the press during film junkets, she displays real wit and comic timing on the page.

Customer Reviews

Witty, engaging, fun!

by
Paul McB

A fun jaunt thru Anna Kendrick"s life. Well written, intelligent and fun to read. I don’t know Miss Kendrick- so I can’t tell if this is mostly from her or with the help of a ghost writer….But she comes across as a hardworking, grounded woman who’s worked very hard to get where she is now….Very entertaining, sort of an extended series of vignettes.